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Sue Bird Sends Clear Message About What Paige Bueckers Would Mean for Dallas Wings

WNBA legend Sue Bird got honest about what the Dallas Wings could become if they drafted Paige Bueckers.

Grant Young

Jul 12, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Sue Bird arrives on the red carpet before the 2023 ESPYS at the Dolby Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jul 12, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Sue Bird arrives on the red carpet before the 2023 ESPYS at the Dolby Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On Sunday, the Dallas Wings secured the No. 1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft by winning the WNBA Draft Lottery.

All indications are that Dallas will use this pick to select UConn Huskies star Paige Bueckers, who is the consensus best player available in the draft (if she decides to declare for it).

Bueckers presumably heading to Dallas has irritated some fans, as many (including Bueckers, according to one ESPN report) would have preferred she went to the Los Angeles Sparks instead.

But WNBA legend Sue Bird doesn't necessarily share that sentiment, and she made that clear during the most recent episode of her "A Touch More" podcast.

"Not that surprising that Dallas got it," Bird said of the top pick. "I feel like between the Sparks and the Wings, you can make arguments, from a pure basketball standpoint, that there was really no wrong place for this number one pick to go.

"It probably will be Paige. I do want to say Paige does have a year of eligibility... but if we live in a world where Paige enters the draft this year, from a basketball roster standpoint, both places are kind of set up for success," Bird continued.

"She would have been teaming up with LA, with some great post players, but young post players, so they would have been able to come up together. On the other side, you're with some vets. Arike is on this team — talk about a backcourt — and then of course Satou Sabally, who will be a free agent... But if Dallas is able to keep Satou there, right away, that team becomes pretty legit.

"If you look at big three's across the league, if Dallas does have Paige... Arike... and they resign Satou, that big three will be up there with all the other big threes," Bird concluded,

Perhaps Bueckers' fanbase won't be lamenting her heading to Dallas after hearing Bird's take.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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